SIX AFRICAN TEENS DISAPPEAR After Visiting U.S. for Robotics Competition

Jul 21, 2017

The six teens who came to the U.S. from Burundi for a robotics competition are gone, gone, gone…It’s interesting that if the coach of these teens “heard rumors” that the teens were planning to stay, that the coach wouldn’t alert someone. Does this smell of a planned and organized effort at asylum by ALL involved? The “mentor” assigned to this group of teens is to be with them during their stay in the U.S….

THE U.S. ADMITTED 626 OF BURUNDI REFUGEES LAST FISCAL YEAR: WRAPSNET IS OUR SOURCE

Oscar Niyiragira, the chairman of the United Burundian-American Community Association Inc. told the AP that he assumed they were seeking asylum — since it’s believed the odds are better in Canada than the U.S., where the Trump White House has taken a stance on immigration.

Organizers of an international robotics competition in the U.S. capital believe the disappearance of six teens from Burundi may have been “self-initiated.”

As the competition was wrapping up Tuesday, their chaperone discovered his kids were missing. He looked in the college dorms where the six teens — ages 16 to 18 — had been staying. Their bags were packed and gone.

Officers swept through DAR Constitution Hall. They were nowhere to be found.

Police now say that two of the six were seen crossing into Canada, and they don’t suspect foul play with any of them.

The team’s coach, Canesius Bindaba, told The Washington Post that he had heard rumors the teens might be planning to stay in the United States. Speaking over WhatsApp from Kenya, a stop on his trip home, Bindaba said he hoped the rumours weren’t true.
“I just tried to build some kind of trust, hoping they were just rumors,” he said. “I feel cheated and disappointed by those who planned this behind my back.”
Police in D.C. posted missing-person fliers Wednesday asking for help finding the teens, who had last been seen at the FIRST Global Challenge around the time of Tuesday’s final matches.
Don Ingabire, 16, and Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, were later seen crossing into Canada, Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Aquita Brown said Thursday.

Marilu Cabrera, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services, which receives asylum applications, said the agency does not comment on whether specific individuals have sought asylum. Canadian immigration authorities also declined to comment.
The competition, designed to encourage youths to pursue careers in math and science, attracted teams of teenagers from more than 150 nations. It had been in the national spotlight already, thanks to a team of girls from Afghanistan who were allowed to attend after President Donald Trump intervened on their behalf. Twice, their visas had been rejected — an Afghan official said the Americans feared they wouldn’t go home.